Monday, February 14, 2022

February Update -- 2022

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ! We're pleased to share with you the wonderful things the Lord has been doing in our lives and ministry.

Family
: In February, we celebrated our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and it was wonderful. Len's morning Psalm reading happened to be 118, which contains the verse we used on our wedding program twenty-five years ago: “This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Later in the day, we went for a walk at a park. In the evening, we went for dinner at a restaurant, which we haven't done for a long time. On our way home afterward, Len told Jennifer that the Lord spoke to him through Psalm 118 that morning by confirming what we wrote on our wedding program about our marriage being the Lord's doing, and it being marvelous in our eyes. Jennifer was surprised to hear that Len, too, had read Psalm 118 today, because that was also the same Psalm she had read in her devotions. Praise the Lord!

We celebrated Joseph's thirteenth birthday in February with cake, cards, gifts, and prayer for him. Now he is officially a teen (see photos at the link below). On his birthday, we also celebrated Len's thirty-sixth spiritual birthday.  

Len and Faith are still having eczema, and Len has been experiencing some tooth pain, but less than before. Faith is still looking for another job that can provide full time hours. Charity's employer has also cut her hours back, and one week she was not given any hours on the schedule at work, while other coworkers were given plenty of hours. So she is looking for another job now, too. Please join us in prayer for that.


Ministry: As we continue to administer our discipleship training school (DTS), we'd like to update you on the good things that God is doing with it. By the grace of God, we currently have disciples in seven nations including Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, South Sudan, India, and the United Kingdom.

In February, we had nine new students enroll in the DTS, including Peace in Nigeria, as well as Godswill, Joyce, Yatta, Rennie, and Isaac in Uganda. We also enrolled Augustin in D.R. Congo, Hillary in South Sudan, and Thembeni in South Africa.

Brother Tom in Uganda is grateful to God for speaking and enabling him to start a nursery and primary school! He wrote to Len in January:

"Hello Leonard!

I am always blessed and encouraged by your concern for every DTS student.

You are mentoring us both mentally and spiritually.

When I was in the midst of my one week of prayer, I got a very strong conviction from the Lord to open up a nursery and primary school. I didn't hesitate starting, because of my obedience to God's voice. At that point, I didn't have money to begin, but the spirit of the Lord issued this statement to me, 'Tom, you don't need money to start a school, but Me.' I expected provision from Him.

The school is called 'Trinity Parents' Nursery and Primary School.' It is in Lira City West --Lira City. We started with eight pupils last week, but today we have thirty pupils in total. 

This I consider to be the result of DTS.

Thanks a lot for your fatherly love towards us.

Brother Tom."

Praise the Lord! What a wonderful testimony of God's faithfulness.

Brother Uchenna in Nigeria said in January:

"I am growing day by day with the help of DTS teachings." According to him, the DTS and LTG have really helped him and his wife to have more knowledge of God’s Word. He said that the DTS is an eye opener that opens him to the truth and things he never knew before as a Christian.

Sadly he and his wife lost their baby at the time of delivery in February. They need your prayers for the Lord to comfort them and provide for their medical bills.

Brother Justus, who is a First Year DTS student and a pastor, has recently planted a church in Kampala, Uganda, which is currently meeting in a sitting room until they are able to obtain a public building. He wrote to Len in February:

"Hallelujah!

Brother Len

The Lord has been so good to us as a ministry (Healing Rock of Pentecost)."

In February, one of the new students who enrolled in the DTS named Isaac in Uganda shared the following testimony of how he came to Christ in 1986:

"I was born in a Christian family; both my father and mother were good drunkards, and they could rarely go to church. And so as children, we also grew in that kind of life, knowing church was useless, though bearing Christian names.

It was not until I joined secondary school level that some preachers came to our school and preached the gospel of Jesus to all students and teachers. I was touched by the message in John 3:16 about God's love for mankind, and before the preacher had finished his message, I found myself in front, kneeling down. I was prayed for and led to Christ and from that day, my life never remained the same."

He is a fifty-two year old pastor and enrolled in the DTS for the following reason: "As a pastor and minister of the gospel, I need to build my spiritual capacity through the word so that I am well equipped for ministry." Praise the Lord! Let's pray to that end that the Lord would fulfill his noble goal.

In February, sister Rebecca in Uganda share the following testimony:

"Praise the Lord!

I thank God for seeing us through the month of January. It has been a challenging one with many people sick around me, but God graciously granted healing.

My Facilitator Grace and my LTG partners have been of great encouragement through their prayers and acts of charity. One LTG partner offered to stay in the hospital attending to my sick Father in-law after seeing our struggles, and this moved my heart.

In the Discipleship II course, work (having a servant heart) stood out for me. I learned that the word 'doulos' means slave, which is [a lifestyle that is] not easy to practice, but yet pays back well when practiced, inevitably with eternal rewards from the master Himself (Our lord and Saviour Jesus Christ).

Thanks, Shalom!"

Sister Catherine in England shared the following testimony in February of the Lord's work in her life through the DTS:

"Dear brother Len and sister Jennifer.

I wish to thank you for the amazing Doulos Studies and advice and prayers and support you have already given me over the past months. I have grown so much closer to our Lord since I started my studies with you, and I pray for you and for more students to join the Doulos Studies.

I have found that the Doulos Studies have helped me so much to walk closer with our Lord, and I have become stronger in our Lord to witness to others.

We must be ready for Jesus' return, and…we must do our part and be ready every day and be a witness to the lost…

Bless you all.
Sister Catherine"


Len received the following testimony from brother Martin in Uganda recently. He states:

"Hello Brother, Len,

Grace, mercy, and peace abundantly to you too in Jesus' Mighty Name!

God has used me to clean up most of our church members through LTG by means of taking many sins away from the life of our members and making them a new creature in Christ, but every day He works on us to make us what we need to be for him in this life via LTG.

The primary way God connected me to DTS is by Brother John Babu. This is where God helped me through brother Len to join LTG program. This is where I, my family, and our church members started digging into Scripture every day. In the Bible, I and my LTG members learn how to live wisely in God's world.

Through LTG my life and LTG members' spiritual lives have changed.

I pray to our Lord Jesus Christ to help us through DTS, as well through LTG, to embrace His calling for our lives with more zeal, wisdom, and humility. Amen!

Brother. Martin Kuku William"

In January, Len received the following email from John, who is one of our students in India. He wrote:

"Praise the Lord!

Brother Len,

Greetings to you in His precious name. Glory to the name of our savior Lord Jesus.
    
Brother, thank God for the witnesses that God has been doing through the DTS courses. This is really a privilege to become a student at  DTS studies. I personally thank you for your encouragement.

Faithfully,
John Sobhan"

In January, brother Max, who is one of our DTS students in Uganda, had a motorcycle accident. Although he didn't break any bones, he was in the hospital with a lot of pain after the accident. Here is his testimony as of the writing of this newsletter:

"Praise the Lord bro Len, thanks for the prayers for me and my Father. Yes, I am healing from malaria (+++ parasite density), ulcers, bacterial infections, and brucellosis. These all attacked me at the same time. But it's a great testimony that I never was admitted, as the doctors reported with a great wonder how I was moving. I saw the grace of God keeping me in motion, while admitted with dad in the hospital and yet also on treatment. Continue to pray for my dad for a total recovery, as he fights off the condition. For now he is improving with challenges of body weakness. Dad is 66 yrs old."

Brother Fredrick in South Africa sent us this testimony in January:

"Praise God I would like to thank God on behalf of our LTG member, brother James, who gave his life to Christ. He had a lot of set backs from prison, and God has shown him His grace and power. In 2018 he was sentenced to sixteen years in prison, but God is good, and he only served three years. He was released on a presidential pardon due to overcrowding of inmates, so he was chosen as he was new in prison. Praise God! As he mentioned: greater is He in him than the devil that is in the world. Since being released, he has been an instrument to the spreading of Good News to everyone of what the Lord did, so praise His name, and thanks to the LTG."


In February, brother Grace, who is a pastor and our DTS facilitator in Uganda, shared about his healing and deliverance ministry there in Soroti. He wrote to Len in the evening (his time) saying:

"Have just finished deliverance sessions since morning. There is a sister here who had severe chest pain for seven years, but today the Lord delivered her plus many more testimonies, I will share next time."

He later wrote back with six testimonies, which Len has posted in an article called Amazing Healing and Deliverance in Uganda. Here is just one of the six testimonies:

"Richard from Kalaki district had a problem of witchcraft, where demons used to stone his house tops and several times attempting to target family members especially at night. When he called for prayer on phone, the Lord showed me two birds leave and fly away from his compound. No more sign of witchcraft in his home." 

Praise the Lord! Read the rest of the testimonies in the very short article called Amazing Healing and Deliverance in Uganda.

Brother Peter in Kenya sent us the following testimony in February:

"Brother Len, 

On Friday, as I was moving on with the courses [in Heresies, Cults, and the Occult II]; I came across the article that has been written by sister Charlotte, the nun who passed through tragic events in the Catholic convent that almost shattered her life completely, if she had not escaped by the grace of God! 

I downloaded the book at around 8:00 PM and by 2:00 AM, I had already completed it. I was having a burden for the nuns and priests, and those in the monastery who have dedicated their lives for wrong reasons. I prayed for them that night, and I feel a great burden to constantly make intercession for them, that God may visit them. I've also started to pray for Muslims, mostly in Arab nations, that God may stretch his hand of deliverance on their behalf. 

God's blessings"

Moreover, we would like to thank our beloved brother Deji for his faithful service as the DTS Facilitator for Nigeria. He has served in that role for the past almost two years since June 2020, after graduating from the DTS in March 2019. His service as the DTS Nigeria Facilitator has been very valuable to us. We appreciate him very much. He is now studying for his doctoral degree, and we wish him the best in achieving his academic goals.

Meanwhile, we are transitioning the role of DTS Facilitator for Nigeria to brother John Abugiye, who is a pastor in Cross River State who graduated from the DTS in March 2021, a little less than one year ago. Please congratulate him on his new role and make him feel welcome. Most importantly, please pray for him. He now has several important roles, including not only the DTS Facilitator role and being a new pastor, but also husband, father of two little girls, and a school teacher in a government school, teaching twelve-to-fifteen-year old students both math and basic science. He has a lot of responsibility and needs our prayer support.

Resources: We would like to remind you that Len's entire collection of his most popular blogs are at Writing for the Master.

In closing, we have much to praise God for, and many opportunities for you to join us in prayer.

Praise the Lord with us for the many answers to prayer:
  1. For allowing us to celebrate Joseph's thirteenth birthday.
  2. For enabling us to celebrate our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.
  3. For the amazing testimonies of God's work in the lives of our students.
  4. For brother John taking on the role of Nigeria DTS Facilitator.
  5. For the new students that have enrolled in the DTS.
  6. For the opportunity to assist each of our students in becoming disciples of Christ and fulfilling their callings. 
  7. For the Lord's leading, guidance, wisdom, and help administering the Doulos Training School (DTS), and for the progress the students are making.
Next steps and prayer needs:
  1. For the Lord to help Faith find another job since she is not getting enough hours at her new one.
  2. For the Lord to heal Faith and Len from eczema.
  3. For the Lord to provide for all the needs of our DTS students in the hardships they're experiencing and assist them in any life challenges they may be experiencing
  4. For the Lord to comfort brother Uchenna and his wife and provide for their medical bills.
  5. For the Lord to heal brother Max and his father.
  6. For the Lord to help brother John in his new Facilitator role.
  7. For the Lord to assist us with the administration of the Doulos Training School (DTS), as well as develop through it many disciples who multiply disciples. 
  8. For the Lord to help all of our DTS students to find LTG partners (another Christian to meet with weekly for discipleship in a Life Transformation Group), and help them finish all their course work for the current quarter by the end of this month. 
  9. For the Lord to fulfill His purposes for us and our ministry.
  10. For the Lord to raise up new faith partners, and for Him to provide for all our needs -- not only ours personally, but also those of the ministry.
Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.

with love from all of us,

The Lacroixs

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